Editing Federated States of Micronesia (section)

=== European Contact and Colonial Rule ===
European explorers—first the [[Portugal|Portuguese]] in search of the [[Maluku Islands|Spice Islands]] ([[Indonesia]]) and then the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]]—reached the [[Caroline Islands|Carolines]] in the sixteenth century. The [[Treaty of Tordesillas]] gave these lands to [[Spain]] and the Spanish incorporated the archipelago to the [[Spanish East Indies]] through the capital, [[Manila]], and in the 19th century established several outposts and missions. In 1887, they founded the town of ''Santiago de la Ascensión'' in what today is [[Kolonia]] on the island of Pohnpei.

In the 1870s, Germany began extending its sphere of influence in the Caroline Islands, leading to the [[Carolines Question]] of 1885 in which [[Pope Leo XIII]] was asked to determine if Germany or Spain had authority over the islands. The result was a confirmation of Spanish authority over the islands, but Germany would have free access to the islands.<ref name="Bjorge2014">{{cite book|author=Eirik Bjorge|title=The Evolutionary Interpretation of Treaties|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hWcHBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA149|date=July 17, 2014|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-102576-1|page=149|access-date=December 21, 2022|archive-date=July 19, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719062219/https://books.google.com/books?id=hWcHBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA149|url-status=live}}</ref>

Following defeat in the [[Spanish–American War]], the Spanish sold the archipelago to [[German Empire|Germany]] in 1899 under the [[German–Spanish Treaty (1899)|German–Spanish Treaty of 1899]]. Germany incorporated it into [[German New Guinea]]. (A few remote islands, notably [[Kapingamarangi]], were not specifically named in the treaty, but this remained unnoticed until the late 1940s and, while acknowledging the historical curiosity in 1949, Spain has made no modern claims to the islands.{{sfn|Pastor y Santos|1950|p=21}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/micronesia-federated-states-of/#transnational-issues|title=Micronesia, Federated States of|work=CIA World Factbook|access-date=July 24, 2021|archive-date=July 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210722221127/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/micronesia-federated-states-of/#transnational-issues|url-status=live}}</ref>)

During [[World War I]], it was captured by [[Empire of Japan|Japan]]. Following the war, the [[League of Nations]] awarded a [[League of Nations Mandate|mandate]] for Japan to administer the islands as part of the [[South Seas Mandate]].<ref name=":5">Foster, S., Hezel, F.X. "Micronesia." ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', February 27, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/place/Micronesia-republic-Pacific-Ocean</ref>